Eivind Aarset Quartet

★★★★ Phantasmagoria Or A Different Kind Of Journey JAZZLAND. CD/DL

Norwegian post-rock guitar maestro takes an immersive psychedelic trip. Any electric guitar group that chooses to do without vocals has to work harder to tickle the ears – from The Shadows to Mogwai. Guitarist Eivind Aarset, a mainstay of the cultishly influential Nordic new music scene, does so not through blasts of look-at-me virtuosity but by building up immersive musical worlds from thickly stacked textures. You’ll hear everything from surf guitar to spy-movie twang to Robert Fripp-style soundscaping as well as the odd thrash weave in and out of these nine mini-epics. Aarset is aided by sampling wizard Jan Bang, field recordings from John Derek Bishop (Tortusa), and on one track trumpeter Arve Henriksen, as he conjures his dreamscapes. However far out Aarset travels, he never loses touch with melody, and his ninth album as leader could be his best.